The advent of portable digital media devices has revolutionized the way that consumers may purchase, receive and enjoy audio, video and other forms of multimedia. Previously, media-playing machines were generally limited to dedicated music or video devices such as video cassette players or compact disc (CD) players, which required a user to insert a component (such as a video tape or a CD) containing read-only media into the device in order to play the media, and to remove the component from the device when the playing of the media was complete. While such devices permitted users to listen to or view media in one of a select few discrete formats, a user's options for interacting with such devices or the media being played thereon was limited to merely starting or stopping the playing of the media, advancing (i.e., “fast-forwarding”) to portions of the media that have not yet been played, or returning (i.e., “rewinding”) to portions of the media that were previously played.
Contemporary media players, however, are versatile processor-driven machines that permit users to easily obtain and play media files at their discretion. Such players typically include one or more software applications for receiving and playing a variety of multimedia files obtained through wired or wireless connections with external sources (such as a desktop or laptop computer, or one or more networked servers), including but not limited to songs, movies and “podcasts,” or regularly produced audio or video files that generally relate to a common topic and are distributed over a network. Once a media file has been received by a media player, the media file may be played time and time again, until the file are manually or automatically deleted from the media player.
Unlike their counterparts of yesteryear, today's media players can do far more than simply play audio or video files. Most media players include one or more applications for reading and displaying information regarding the media files that are being played (e.g., the title of the file, as well as the time, chapter or other reference to the portion of the file being played), and for pinpointing respective portions of the media files to be played. For example, most media players include one or more buttons or other selectable features for not only playing, pausing, stopping, fast-forwarding or rewinding the media files, but also for taking any other pertinent action regarding the media files (e.g., adding the media files to one or more playlists, storing the media files in one or more locations on the players or on any associated hardware, or deleting the media files). Additionally, many media players may be linked or associated with the Internet either directly through one or more wired or wireless means, or indirectly through an Internet-enabled computer device with which it is connected.
Media files may be purchased and/or obtained from one or more online sources, such as an online media service or online marketplace. As with the purchase of nearly any item, the purchase of media files by a customer is typically a clear indication that the customer is interested in the contents of media, either for himself or herself, or on behalf of another person as a gift. Other than the fact that the media was purchased by or on behalf of the user, or that the user may be interested in playing all or a portion of it, existing systems and methods for distributing digital media over the Internet are unable to obtain or deduce any other information regarding the user based on his or her playing of the media file.